Glad it turned out so well, Suzanne!  I will get brave about it very soon, as there are lots of peppers coming on right now.  Guess I really wanted that volume thing because I like pepper butter VERY hot and would want to throw in more jalapenos, cayenne, and serranos, just because they are here.

Not quite finished, but the hard part is all done!  Just have to heat the butter then drop it into the jars!  Yeah, hurray!.  With the addition of some already turned red serranos, some more cayenne, and some banana peppers that were more orange than yellow, it is a very pretty shade of orange.  So very glad about that because the more greeish yellow color is just not very appealing to me!

And I just couldn't put in more than 4 cups of sugar.  It was already starting to taste more like honey mustard, with a little zing, than pepper butter to me.  But, that's why we each have our own measuring cups, right? 

And I haven't added any salt yet.  We don't generally eat much of it, but a little does often help, so will probably add about half the amount called for.  Maybe…

Well after everything you went through to get this Hot Pepper Butter, I AM SO HAPPY IT TURNED OUT DELICIOUS!!!!

A disclaimer, in case anyone tries this, or other hot pepper recipes, who has never worked with hot peppers before and/or has respiratory problems:

Be SURE to have plenty of ventilation when processing the peppers.  Protection for your hands is a great idea, and a mask if you have really serious breathing issues.  It can be done.  I just proved it, but I had to plan a bit and make sure that I wasn't breathing the vapors any more than was absolutely necessary.  Had it not been raining, I would have done most of it outdoors!  And, I got rid of all the seeds and stems ASAP.  Protective eyewear is a good thing to consider also.

You have the advantage on us there, dede, since you will know as the original pepper mixture is heating how "wet" it is, and how much thickening it might need!  And, since you make it regularly, I await your report.  Our 15 half pints will last us a very long time!  But, the pepper yield seems to be pretty good this year – so you never know.  (I may pull the trick of freezing some pepers to make into pepper butter later.)

does this thicken as it cools like cornstarch or should i add more CJ to the consistency i want the end product to be?

The lids are popping!  This recipe is SOOOOOOOO  GOOOOOOOD!!  I'm trying to think of something to eat with it instead of just by the spoon!    This is a very good recipe for making it to your own taste.  I wimped out and used more mild peppers, then it didn't have enough umph, so I added some red peppers to get it to where I liked it.

I ended up using 1 c. CJ total.  I thickened it to the "just before" thickness that I wanted it in the end and the leftover is just right.

I would have had 17 half pints……there was 1 whole cup leftover.  I didn't use the # of peppers called for, I used the "little less than 6 cups" from Pete and Suzanne.  I just kept stuffing them into the grinder until I had just under 6 cups.